Microeconomics II (20838)
Degree: Degree in Business Management and Administration
Year: Second
Quarter: First
Number of ECTS credits: 5 credits
Total dedication hours by student: 125 hours
Language or languages of the teaching: Catalan, Spanish and English
Professors: Paulo Abecasis, Xavier Calsamiglia
1. Presentation of the subject
Objectives: Microeconomics II is the continuation of Microeconomics I and it completes what would be a standard complete Intermediate Microeconomics course. During the course, all basic economic models referring to the analysis of partial equilibrium with imperfect competition, general competitive equilibrium, and an introduction to welfare economics and market failures are studied. The course requires basic knowledge of mathematics and some economics concepts. In addition to learning new material, students learn to think like economists and to apply the theoretical concepts that they have analyzed. This can be fully achieved with sufficient practice.
Pre-requisites: This course deepens the task -begun with Microeconomics I - of modeling concrete economic situations in order to theoretically analyze them rigorously and objectively. The prerequisites for this course are divided in two sections:
Basic mathematical concepts: Algebra, differential calculus and optimization. These skills will be acquired and strengthened with the Mathematics courses from the first year of the degree.
Economics concepts: The basic concepts acquired during the Introductory Economics and Microeconomics I courses form an indispensable basis for the course. The process of formalizing economic phenomena that is taught in these two classes is extended to more complex situations in the Microeconomics II course.
2. Competences to be attained
|
General skills |
Specific skills |
|
Instrumental Analytical capacity Ability to manage information Abstraction capacity Adaptability and clarity of ideas
Social Ability to work in groups Critical capacity
Sistematic Creativity (the ability to generate new ideas) Autonomy (the ability to work alone)
|
Analysis of imperfect competition models
Analysis of general market interactions Ability to apply basic mathematical concepts to economics |
3. Contents
Topic 1. Monopoly behavior.
Topic 2. Factor markets and oligopolies.
Topic 3. General equilibrium: exchange.
Topic 4. General equilibrium: production.
Topic 5. Welfare
Topic 6. Externalities and public goods.
4. Assessment
Mandatory continuous assessment:
Practical Exercises: Problems and case studies are analyzed in the seminar sessions. Attendance to the seminar sessions is mandatory. Failure to attend more than two sessions will result in an automatic suspension from the course. Exemptions will only be allowed for medical reasons or for exceptional circumstances that are properly justified.
Quizzes: At the end of each session there will be a brief multiple choice quiz concerning the corresponding theme.
Compulsory final evaluation: final exam
The relative weight of each type of evaluation is:
Quizzes: 20%
Seminar participation 10%
Final Exam 70%
The September evaluation will follow exactly the same rules.
5. Bibliography and teaching resources
5.1. Basic bibliography
Varian, H. R. Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach, Nova York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2005,... (any edition).
Hal Varian, Microeconomía intermedia: un enfoque actual, Antoni Bosch, Barcelona, 2006
5.2. Complementary bibliography
Joaquim Silvestre, Microeconomia, Editorial UOC, Barcelona, 2006
5.3. Teaching resources
For each topic, a set of indispensable teaching resources will be available through Aula Global.
6. Methodology
During the course, there will be the following different activities:
Theoretical sessions with large groups in which the concepts and their basic applications are introduced.
Seminar sessions in smaller groups in which the concepts introduced are worked over interactively.
7. Planning of activities